All Whites Qualify For Confederations Cup
Story by Jeremy Ruane

New Zealand’s All Whites have qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Finals with two games to spare after recording a 3-1 victory over New Caledonia at the Stade Numa-Daly Magenta in Noumea on September 6.

The win also confirms the victors as Oceania’s representatives in a two-legged qualifier against the fifth-placed Asian nation in November 2009, with a place at the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals at stake.

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Published: 06 September 2008

Cup Stalwarts Score Deserved Triumph Over Holders
Story by Jeremy Ruane & Photos By Graham Hughes

Seven-time National Women’s Knockout Cup winners Lynn-Avon United scored a thoroughly deserved 1-0 triumph over holders Western Springs at Seddon Fields on August 31 to set up a showdown for the silverware with Canterbury’s Western club at North Harbour Stadium in a fortnight’s time.

The outgoing Mainland Premier Women’s League champions will have their hands full endeavouring to contain their opponents on September 13, because Lynn-Avon’s passion and desire to win this semi-final was insatiable.

Springs ultimately had no answers to their rivals, who were on the holders’ case right from the first whistle, as evidenced by Kirsty Yallop’s quickly taken free-kick after just 85 seconds.

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Published: 01 September 2008

Some Final Thoughts
Story by Jeremy Ruane

As I’m typing this, I’m eastward bound over the Tasman Sea, and the gorgeous Cameron Diaz is the star turn on the in-flight movie as the final leg of what has been a longer than anticipated trip home draws to a close.

Why so? Our flight from Shanghai was some three hours late in departing, thanks to a lovely electrical storm which provided its own entertainment, in the form of lighting up the airfield at Shanghai Pudong at regular intervals. Only one flight took the risk of taking off during its wrath, and nothing more was heard from it after its departure - one assumes that it made its destination intact.

It meant a rather frustrating time for those on board our aircraft, and doubtless the situation was repeated on others also. Some folk had to rearrange connecting flights, but thankfully that wasn’t the case for me - this delay just ate up the time I’d have spent wandering around the shops in the transit lounge at Kingsford Smith (the name by which Sydney Airport is properly known).

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Published: 16 August 2008

Back-To-Back Gold Medals For Argentina
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Argentina clinched successive gold medals in the Olympic Men’s Football Tournament on Saturday, downing Nigeria 1-0 in Beijing’s “Birds’ Nest” to claim the crown at the Games of the 29th Olympiad.

Lionel Messi cleverly set up the winning goal just shy of the hour mark for Angel di Maria, whose chipped strike clinched victory for the Argentines in an uninspiring match not aided by the fact it was played in ferocious 42C heat.

Water-breaks were the order of the day as the players endured the challenging conditions in the midday sun, with Nigeria unable to get the better of Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero, despite having their fair share of chances to do so in a match watched by 89,102 fans.

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Published: 23 August 2008

Young Ferns Finish With A Flourish
Story by Jeremy Ruane

New Zealand’s Young Football Ferns mounted a late fightback to earn a 1-1 draw against the host nation in the final match of their quadrangular tournament in Paraguay on July 19.

Trailing to a Karen Ruiz Diaz goal after just ten minutes, the Young Ferns battled away, and earned their reward eight minutes from time. Captain Briony Fisher picked out substitute Sarah McLaughlin with an angled through ball, and the striker lifted the sphere over advancing Paraguayan goalkeeper Zulma Orue before nipping round her to turn the ball home into an empty net.

The result against the Carlos Baez-coached U-17 Women’s World Cup squad marked a welcome return to form for Paul Temple’s charges, after 4-0 reversals in their previous matches at the hands of Paraguay - in a friendly - and the tournament’s eventual winners, Universidad Autonoma Asuncion, who downed Cerro Porteno 2-0 in the day’s other match.

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Published: 19 July 2008

“Army” Keen To Maintain The Family Tradition
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Mention the word Armstrong in New Zealand footballing circles, and chances are the names of Ken and Ron will be prominent in the ensuing discussion.

Rightly so, too, given the pioneering role the late, lamented New Zealand captain and coach played in dragging the game in this country into the twentieth century, following his arrival from England during the 1950s,.

The achievements his son, Ron, attained on the pitch, particularly at Mt. Wellington during the club’s halcyon days until his retirement in the early 1990s, also made a significant impact on the game.

His brother, Brian, also represented his country with distinction, while Ron’s wife, Jenny, was good enough to make fifteen appearances for the Auckland women’s team during the 1980s, while playing for the all-conquering Mt. Wellington women’s team in that era.

Twenty years on, and the family lineage is set to continue well into the 21st Century, thanks to the efforts of a young lady who hopes she’ll be playing in a FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup semi-final on the weekend of her sixteenth birthday in November.

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Published: 08 September 2008

Springs Put One Hand On Maiden League Title
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Western Springs took a giant step towards clinching their maiden Lotto Northern Premier Women’s League title at Ken Maunder Park on September 7, Renee Leota’s late headed equaliser securing them a 1-1 draw at Lynn-Avon United to leave “The Hoops” three points clear of their rivals, with each having a game to play to conclude what has been a gripping title chase.

Elsewhere, outgoing title-holders Three Kings United all but confirmed third place with a 5-0 rout of Eastern Suburbs at Madills Farm. Lauren Murray sent them on their way with a thirteenth minute strike, which Betsy Hassett and Roseanne Cox supplemented within the next twenty minutes.

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Published: 07 September 2008

Back-To-Back Titles For Central United
Story by Jeremy Ruane

A goal in each half from Milos Nikolic ensured Central United of back-to-back Lotto Northern Premier League championships on Saturday, as they overcame Bay Olympic 2-0 at Olympic Park to clinch this season’s title with a game to spare.

Needing to win to consign season-long rivals Eastern Suburbs to a second- or third-placed finish for the fourth successive campaign, Central made sure of their third championship in five seasons with a solid victory, their seventeenth of the season, and one which consigned Bay Olympic to a fifth-placed finish.

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Published: 06 September 2008

Goals Galore As Cream Rises To Top
Story by Jeremy Ruane

The Hyundai A-League was subjected to another avalanche of goals across the final weekend in August, with the outcomes already hinting that three teams in particular are going to be in the mix at the business end of the campaign.

Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC and Adelaide United all boast seven points from three rounds after winning with more than a little to spare over the course of the weekend.

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Published: 02 September 2008

Adelaide Ease Past Wellington Phonies
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Adelaide United enjoyed an armchair ride in their Hyundai A-League encounter at Hindmarsh Stadium on August 30, cruising to a 3-0 win over a Wellington Phoenix combination which failed to fulfil the fundamentals one expects of a football team over the course of ninety minutes.

The home team were made to look like world-beaters by a side which lacked passion, hunger, desire, fight and pride in their performance … for Phoenix, read Phonies, a dictionary definition for which reads “something not genuine; false; a person who deceives, dissembles, is insincere …”.

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Published: 31 August 2008